Classical Antiquity and Medieval Ireland: An Anthology of Medieval Irish Texts and Interpretations (Bloomsbury Studies in Classical Reception)

Through an extensive series of extracts and accompanying interpretative and contextual essays, this open access volume showcases the expertise in classical learning that flourished in medieval Gaelic Ireland.Providing translations of all excerpts, it situates better known ‘antiquity sagas’ in the Middle Irish language, such as Togail Troí (The Siege of Troy, based on Dares Phrygius), Imtheachta Aeniasa (The Wanderings of Aeneas, based on Virgil’s Aeneid), In Cath Catharda (The Civil War, based on Lucan) and Togail na Tebe (The Siege of Thebes, based on Statius), within the broader constellation of medieval Irish literature that references and engages with classical antiquity. Included are synchronistic poetry and world chronologies; lesser-known Irish poetry and prose recounting episodes from Graeco-Roman mythography and featuring, for instance, Jason and the Argonauts, Ulysses and Penelope, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, Daedalus and the Minotaur; linguistic and metaphysical tracts; plac